1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to stimulation of a viewer in response to an audio or visual event, and more particularly to stimulation of a viewer in real time correspondence with one or more events occurring during said audio and/or video presentation.
2. Background Art
The entertainment industry is a major industry in the United States. Sports presentations, concerts, etc. are viewed live by millions of people each year. Additional millions of people view recordings of these events. In the case of musical presentations such as concerts, the recording may comprise an audio cassette, a record album or, more recently, a compact disc. In the case of audiovisual presentations, such as boxing matches, the recording is typically a videocassette.
While it is certainly entertaining to view a live presentation of a concert, sporting event or other entertainment presentation, the viewing of such events would be further enhanced if the viewer's observation involved more than simply hearing and/or seeing the presentation, whether live or in the form of a recording.
Another popular form of audiovisual presentation is the "video game". With the advent of low cost home computers, video games have found their way into homes everywhere. In a typical video game, the user views a video display and hears associated sound, and interacts with the display via a "joystick" or other controller. While such games are entertaining, here too the viewing experience could be further enhanced if the viewer were stimulated by more than the usual audiovisual presentation of the game as displayed on a television or other monitor.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a system for enhancing a viewer's observation of a presentation such as a sports event, concert, video game etc.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system for enhancing the viewer's observation of the presentation, whether the presentation viewed is live or recorded.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system for enhancing the viewer's observation of an audio and/or video presentation, whether such audio and/or video presentation is live or recorded.
It is a further object of the present invention to enhance a viewer's observation of a presentation by involving senses other than sight and hearing.
It is still a further object of the present invention to enhance a viewer's observation of a presentation by tactilely stimulating the viewer in response to specific events occurring during the presentation.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system wherein the presentation may be viewed by a plurality of viewers, and wherein all of the viewers may be simultaneously tactilely stimulated in response to specific events occurring during the presentation, even when the viewers are at more than one location.
It is a specific object of the present invention to provide a system of the aforementioned type wherein the viewing of a boxing match is enhanced by tactilely stimulating one or more viewers in response to special events in the boxing match.
It is also a specific object of the invention to provide a system wherein music is tactilely enhanced by tactilely stimulating one or more viewers in response to specific events in the music.